Data. Recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics,
of any nature, including administrative, managerial, financial, and technical.

Defect. See MIL-STD-109.

Deficiencies. Deficiencies consist of two types;

a. Conditions or
characteristics in any item which are not in accordance with the item's current
approved configuration documentation; or

b. Inadequate (or erroneous)
item configuration documentation which has resulted, or may result, in units of
the item that do not meet the requirements for the item.

Design change. See "engineering change".

Developmental configuration. The contractor's design and associated
technical documentation that defines the evolving configuration of a
configuration item during development. It is under the developing contractor's
configuration control and describes the design definition and implementation.
The developmental configuration for a configuration item consists of the
contractor's internally released hardware and software designs and associated
technical documentation until establishment of the formal product baseline.

Deviation. A specific written authorization, granted prior to the
manufacture of an item, to depart from a particular requirement(s) of an item's
current approved configuration documentation for a specific number of units or a
specified period of time. (A deviation differs from an engineering change in
that an approved engineering change requires corresponding revision of the
item's current approved configuration documentation, whereas a deviation does
not.)

Engineering change. A change to the current approved configuration
documentation of a configuration item at any point in the life cycle of the
item.

Engineering change justification
code. A code which 1- indicates the
reason for a Class I engineering change.

Engineering change priorities. The priority (emergency, urgent, routine)
assigned to a Class I engineering change which determines the relative speed at
which the Engineering Change Proposal is to be reviewed, evaluated, and, if
approved, ordered and implemented.

Engineering change proposal (ECP). A proposed engineering change and the
documentation by which the change is described, justified, and submitted to the
Government for approval or disapproval.

Engineering change proposal types. A term covering the subdivision of
Class I Engineering Change Proposals on the basis of the completeness of the
available information delineating and defining the engineering change. They will
be identified as preliminary or formal.

Engineering release. An action whereby configuration documentation or an
item is officially made available for its intended use.

Engineering Release Record (ERR). A record used to release configuration
documentation.

Evaluation. See DoD-STD-2168.

Exchangeability of items. See MIL-STD-280.

Firmware. See DoD-STD-2167.

Fit. The ability of an item to physically interface or interconnect with
or become an integral part of another item.

Form. The shape, size, dimensions, mass, weight, and other visual
parameters which uniquely characterize an item. For software, form denotes the
language and media.

Function. The action or actions which an item is designed to perform.

Functional area. A distinct group of system performance requirements
which, together with all other such groupings, forms the next lower-level
breakdown of the system on the basis of function.

Functional Baseline (FBL). The initially approved documentation
describing a system's or item's functional, interoperability, and interface
characteristics and the verification required to demonstrate the achievement of
those specified characteristics.

Functional characteristics. Quantitative performance parameters and
design constraints, including operational and logistic parameters and their
respective tolerances. Functional characteristics include all performance
parameters, such as range, speed, lethality, reliability, maintainability, and
safety.

Functional Configuration Audit (FCA). The formal examination of
functional characteristics of a configuration item, prior to acceptance, to
verify that the item has achieved the requirements specified in its functional
and allocated configuration documentation.

Hardware Configuration Item (HWCI). A configuration item that is
hardware.

Integrated Logistics Support (ILS). See
MIL-STD-1388-1.

Interchangeable item. See
MIL-STD-280.

Interface. The functional and physical characteristics required to exist
at a common boundary.

Interface control. The process of identifying, documenting, and
controlling all functional and physical characteristics relevant to the
interfacing of two or more items provided by one or more organizations.

Interface Control Documentation
(ICD). Interface control drawing or
other documentation which depicts physical and functional interfaces of related
or co-functioning items.

Interface Control Working Group
(ICWG). For programs which encompass a
system, configuration item, or a computer software configuration item design
cycle, an ICWG is established to control interface activity among the
Government, contractors, or other agencies, including resolution of interface
problems and documentation of interface agreements.

Interoperability. The ability of the defense services and agencies to
exchange information with each other (joint operations) or with an allied system
(combined operations) to enable them to operate effectively together.